I Must Not Tell Lies
by AwkwardDuckling
Summary: When Harry finds Luna in the process of being beaten up after a DA meeting, he learns a little more about them and a little more about his enemies at the school. Genderfluid!Luna. Luna/Harry friendship, but you can read it as romance. Rated M for mentions of sexual assault, NOT Luna's gender identity.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **I don't really know where this came from, to be honest. I felt like writing some Luna/Harry friendship and Oops. I don't own Harry Potter, blah blah blah.

Takes place in 'The Order of the Pheonix'.

It was a DA meeting, Neville had disarmed Ron, Ginny cast her first Patronus, and Hermione had kept watch. Harry had stayed behind, rifling through a book of defensive spells. He needed some new curses; everyone was catching on surprisingly fast. Ginny had offered to stay behind and teach _him_ some new ones, seeing as she was the master. Goyle's feet still hadn't stopped dancing. Ginny was _brutal_.

He had just left the list of next week's curse: _plaga sequarte. _It made the victim sick for days, even weeks if the caster was strong enough. Harry left the room of requirement and strode down the corridor, trying to appear as if he had just come from the seventh floor lavitory, and not a secret organization.

That's when he saw it.

Luna was held against the wall, with one boy pinning her arms above her head. Another had her chin in a vice like grip, twisting it uncomfortably towards him.

"What kind of fucking Ravenclaw are you if you can't even figure out your own gender?" Said the boy (sixth year, Ravenclaw, Harry took note) holding her arms. She whimpered, and half-heartedly tried to kick him off. He tightened his grip on her arms, sure to leave a bruise. The other let go of her chin.

She hung her head, trying to lean away from the boys on either side of her. The one who had dropped her head stepped back, only to forcefully punch her in the gut. Luna cried out with no air, and tried to breathe unsuccessfully. Now that he could get a good look at her, harry noticed the tears streaming from her face, and the blood pouring from her nose like a faucet.

"Let's remind you, slut." Said the sixth-year, and he let go of her arms. Luna fell to the floor, all strength gone, wheezing and sobbing. It was the worst sound Harry had ever heard, and it made him angrier than he thought was possible.

He clenched his wand in his fist, running through curses and charms in his head. When he opened his eyes, he saw the younger one start to pull up her sweater. Realizing what was happening, he yelled and ran over.

The boys looked at him in fear, and started to run. After two very loud "_Conjunctivitis Curses_" were yelled and the two boys were clutching at their eyes, Harry slid down against the wall, panting. _They deserved it, _Harry thought, _The bastards deserved it for what they did to Luna._

Oh God.

_Luna._

Harry ran back to the corridor to find Luna curled in a ball, wheezing and crying. She was a mess, her hair tangled, her sweater discarded on the floor, the sleeves of her robe (which she had bundled herself in) most definitely covered in blood and snot. He walked over to her, and crouching down next to her he put a hand on her shoulder.

Seeing her jump back and look at him in fear broke him.

"Luna?" he said softly, fighting to keep his anger out of his voice. "Luna it's okay, they're gone." She looked up at him, and Harry could really see the damage they had done. On black eye, two small bruises on her chin, and a bloody nose were only the half of it. Only half of what he could _see_ that is.

"H-Harry." she said in her wispy voice that sounded so wrong when it was thick with tears. His name was said like it was holding her to this world. Maybe it was, and that thought scared him. "Harry- oh!" she crawled towards him, and he pulled her into a hug. He didn't care that she was getting blood on his robes. He could hear her saying "thank you" repeatedly in to his shoulder like it was a prayer.

"Luna, what happened, who were they?" Harry asked. This was going straight to Flitwick, or whoever dealt with this stuff. He tried to remember the spell that Luna used to fix his nose. He knew why she needed it now.

He pushed her off of him and she whined. She had stopped sobbing now, she was just crying softly, but smiling.

"_Episkey_" he chanted, pointing his wand at her nose. Her nose looked a bit better now and she reached her hand up to touch it. As she did, her sleeves fell down, revealing dark rings around her wrists. She didn't bruise _that_ fast, meaning this had happened before.

"Luna, _who were they_?" Harry repeated. When she looked away from him and started picking at a scab on her wrist (from those sick bastards' fingernails _oh god_-) he felt sick. "Has- have they uh- done this," he gestured at the rest of the hallway "before?"

She had finally removed the scab, and a little blood was pooling on her wrist. She said nothing.

Harry felt actual bile rise in his throat.

"Luna, why didn't you say anything?" Harry asked. "Why did you le-"

"I tried to." Her voice was a whisper, and she was staring transfixed at her wrist. "They were part of the Inquisitorial Squad." She looked at him now, directly in the eye. She looked so broken, and it reminded Harry of how Sirius looked when he talked about James, like he'd had something taken from him unfairly.

"What does that have to do—"' Harry didn't finish his sentence as he realized. Her grabbed her hand and flipped it over, hoping, _praying-_

"'I must not tell lies'" Luna said, her voice shaking. The scab was fresher than his, by at least a week.

"No." Harry said, blind with rage. "No!" He slammed his fist against the wall, immediately regretting it when Luna jumped back.

"Sorry!" She said quickly, and Harry once again felt sick. Why was _she _apologizing? This wasn't right at all. He was doing this wrong…

"No, please, Luna this wasn't, _isn't_ your fault please no don't say sorry." Harry said quickly.

He stood up. They were going to the highest authority right now. He walked over and grabbed her sweater, said "_Purifico" _under his breath, and handed it to her.

"Come on, we're going to Mcgonagall's, she won't take us to Umbridge." He cast the cleaning spell on her robes too, and grabbed her hand when she was dressed. He led her down the hallway until he turned a corner.

The Inquisitorial Squad had grown since he'd last seen them. There were now a few scared Hufflepuffs, a lone Gryffindor, and a few more Ravenclaws in their mix. They were all standing with their wands at the ready, and Umbridge was standing in front of them.

"Well, Well," she said in her high, squeaky voice. "I thought it might be you who cursed my boys."

**A/N: **And the award for best place to end a chapter goes to… AwkwardDuckling!

*bows* thank you, thank you but I really must be going,

Later Bitches


	2. Chapter 2

**Before we begin, I want to apologise for not updating since the stone age…yeah. I don't want to play the "school" excuse but really, school has been hell recently and all inspiration for me to continue this flew out the window and now I have tons of new ideas, so I'm not sure if I'll continue this. Tell me if you think I'm just out of it or my writing style has changed too much, and I'll work on something else**

**^.^**

"You are aware that, under Educational Decree 103, any aggressive spells cast outside of classes are banned?" Umbridge said, still smiling like she had just told him the time of day. "I think this is worthy of at least a week's worth of detention Mr. Potter." Harry spluttered indignantly, all he had done was defend Luna from those arseholes.

"And, ah, who's that little thing behind you?" Umbridge asked, just noticing Luna trailing behind him. Harry wasn't surprised, when you weren't looking for her Luna almost seemed to fade into the background like an apparition. Even her strange habits and quirky outfits quickly became as regular as the changing staircases for the students of Hogwarts, just another odd charm about the school. "State your name, house, and year."

Harry was about to speak for her, but Luna stepped out from behind him before he could.

"Luna Lovegood, second year Ravenclaw, Mademoiselle Umbridge." She said plainly in her soft, lilting voice, her eyes dancing across the floor even as she spoke confidently.

"It's _Miss _Umbridge, _Miss_ Lovegood. Need I remind you we are in an English school and we speak English here?" Luna winced at Umbridge's condescending tone, embarrassed.

"N-no, ma'am." She was still shifting as she examined the floor, pulling on her sleeves and twisting her hair a bit.

"Good, now look at me when I'm speaking to you." Luna still kept her eyes focused on the floor, and Harry reached out to touch her arm, trying to get her to look up. It was no secret that eye contact made Luna uncomfortable, but now was not the time to annoy Umbridge. "Look at me!" Umbridge stomped her foot like a petulant child to punctuate her demand, and at the sound and harsh delivery Luna jerked her head up, placating the professor.

"Good," she said sweetly, "now, Miss Lovegood, you have also have quite the troublesome record when it comes to opposing the Inquisitorial Squad, is there anything you have to say about this incident with Mr. Potter?"

"She had nothing to do with it, ma'am" Harry said before Luna could even open her mouth. He moved to step in front of her once again, thinking of a way to lie her way out of this. "I just overheard them talking, and they were talking about Oliver Wood, and since I know the gu-"

"Save your explanation for detention, Mr. Potter, and Miss Lovegood can carry on to her class if no one is opposed." Umbridge looked back at the students gathered behind her, and seeing no objections, carried on. "Ten points from Gryffindor for your barbaric display of violence, Mr. Potter, and five points from both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor for you two being late to class."

"But-" Harry started, the only reason they _were_ going to be late for class is because of her-

"Five points for backtalk, Mr. Potter, now are we done here?" Umbridge said, obviously gritting her teeth to remain civil. Harry was sure if he opened his mouth again, nothing good would come out. He played the safe card and forced his mouth to stay shut as he nodded. Umbridge smiled back at him, closing her eyes and tilting her head as she proceeded down the hall with the Inquisitorial Squad following close behind her. Harry felt several shoulders bump into his as the students followed closely behind her, keeping in rhythm to the _click-click _of her heels like a drum. Soon, Harry and Luna were the only ones left in the hallway, and with a quick glance out the grand window to their left, it was indeed past the time for evening Herbology. Harry cursed and turned back towards Luna, who was flapping her arms up and down a bit as she shuffled from foot to foot.

Harry reached out and took her hand again. It was cold, and the scab on her wrist was still slowly trickling out blood, but he still held on to it tightly as he led her down the hall, trying to decide whether they should risk skipping class or get to McGonagall's office right away. They could both get in even more trouble if they skipped Herbology entirely, but he wasn't sure if Luna would talk to another teacher without him there.

Plus, she seemed closer to "normal" now that their taxing confrontation with Umbridge was over. Harry's feet stuttered and almost tripped him as his brain morbidly wondered if all these times she insisted on taking the long way to class, or slipping off into the forest instead of Hogsmeade she had been trying to avoid the two boys. All this time, she had been acting as normal as could be yet keeping all of this a secret from her friends.

Harry felt queasy; how many secrets could his friends be hiding from him by putting on a smile and laughing at bad jokes?

"Hey, Luna," Harry started, at her melodic 'hmm?' he continued, "how long has this…bullying been going on?" Luna looked at the wall, tensing up a bit. She obviously didn't like talking about her problems, from what Harry could understand. He could relate to her, when your family is busy and has no time to worry about their half-there kid, you learn to say 'it's fine' when someone asks.

"…Not for very long, just recently started." She didn't look at him when she answered, but he figured it was better not to push her, only nodding his head in agreement.

"And- ah, do you want me to tell anyone else about it?" she shook her head 'no' rapidly, though he thought it was less because she was so adamant and more because she enjoyed the feeling of her "brains rattling around" (according to a conversation she had with Hermione during Charms) . Harry hummed to show his agreement, and laced their fingers together again. He didn't mind holding hands with her, and since he had been cooped up with the emotionally detached Dursleys all summer and then being almost constantly being patrolled while with his friends, he was a bit desperate for even a little affection. He was also surprisingly unembarrassed, and he wondered about the difference between holding her hand and Cho's.

"Them." Harry turned his head, snapped out of his thoughts by Luna suddenly piping up out of nowhere.

"What do you mean 'them'?" He asked, confused.

"That's what I want you to call me. Instead of 'she' and 'her', 'they' and 'them'." They turned and looked up at him again, and noticing his confused look, they continued, "It's called pronouns, you use them in place of a person's name to-"

"I know what a pronoun is, I don't need a grammar lesson," he said, still confused yet offended by Luna's lack of faith in his education, "I just want to know why you're using them instead of 'she' and 'her'." Luna tucked a braided part of their hair behind their ear and took a deep breath.

"I'm not a girl. I mean, not sometimes, I am occasionally." Luna replied, skipping a bit alongside him even as they spoke about such an important subject. "Sometimes, though, I'm not, and I don't know what I am then. Just not a girl. And I don't like being called 'she' and 'her' during those times." She said it so matter-of-factly that Harry was almost taken aback.

"How will I know when you're a girl and when you're not?" He asked her, and they merely shrugged in reply.

"I guess I'll tell you."

"Oh." Harry suddenly felt awkward, but slightly touched that Luna thought to tell him something so personal. They walked in silence for a bit until another thought occurred to him. "Does anyone else know?" Luna nodded.

"Ginny and Neville know. So does _The Fat Lady_." Harry blinked a couple of times.

"_The Fat Lady_?" Surely they didn't mean the woman in the painting that served as the door to Gryffindor commons.

"She prefers the term 'voluptuous', but yes _The Fat Lady_." At Harry's questioning look, they elaborated, "I was telling Neville as he walked back to the commons and she overheard. She says that Chun-yan from _Sorceress's March on The Sea_ is the same, 'saying she's a man one day-dressed in armour and all- then returning to her husband's portrait in hanfu the next', but I don't think it's quite the same."

"You talk to the paintings?" Harry asked, incredulous. Sure the paintings talked, but aside from scolding students and asking for passwords, they never really spoke to students unless it was fully necessary.

"Of course, why not?" They said it so plainly, like they were shocked that Harry didn't. As they went on to talk about how they and Hermione would often sit in hallways and talk to separate portraits all day before they were taken down, Harry took time to look at them. They were talking animatedly again, voice more song-like and accented than Harry had heard since he had found them today. Their smile still didn't reach their ears like it used to, but it seemed that talking about their gender had really helped them feel more comfortable. Harry smiled softly, pleased at how they were already recovering their spirits from what happened earlier.

Harry squeezed their hand to get their attention, and then released it to point at the ornate wooden door before them. It was lined in bronze details, and in its centre was an elegantly engraved Gryffindor house crest. The two had reached Ms. McGonagall's office.

"Ready?" he asked Luna carefully, making sure she was okay with confiding in another Head of House. Luna merely nodded, and Harry lifted the heavy golden knocker, then let it fall.

**Ahh, genderfluid Luna is the air that I breathe tbh. I also worked in some other headcanons of mine, like that Luna is French and went to school there until they moved to the U.K. when she was very young *cough* when her mother dies *cough*. Also I may have written Xenophilius off as kind of a jerk parent here, but really he's just busy. Anyway, the next update won't be for a while, so until then.**

**Later, bitches :P**


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